Long Outruns Mother Nature At Kingsport

Nick Cole laid down a quick lap of 16.269 to set fast-time in Street Stock qualifying, but following an invert-five John Harrell and Royce Peters brought the field to the green flag from the front row.

Harrell and Peters ran side-by-side battling for the lead over the first three circuits before Harrell moved to the point racing off turn two. Cole got around Peters for second on lap 5 and set his sights ahead on leader Harrell. Caution waved on lap seven, when Chris Tunnell cut down a tire and slowed on the track.

Harrell moved back into the lead over Cole and Rob Austin once green flag racing resumed. While Cole appeared to have a car to challenge Harrell for the lead, while lapping the slower running ride of Brian Russell on lap 14 at end of the backstretch entering the third turn, Russell got into Cole to send him spinning to bring out the caution.

With Cole and Austin locked in a tight points battle, it looked like Cole might possibly take a big (points) hit after having to restart from the rear after spinning. But, in a quirky sequence of events, Austin also spun following contact just a lap back under green to also force him to the back of the field for another restart.

So, both one and two in points, Austin and Cole, were together in the final running order and heading into the next night of racing will be separated by only seven points.

Following a full-field (10 cars) invert after qualifying for the 20-lap Pure 4 feature, point leader John Ketron was relegated to the back row for the start and had his work cut out to visit victory lane. But the father of sons, Jason and Billy, is a hard laborer and quickly began working his way towards the front.

Derek Penley and David Trent started from the front row and in the early going the duo led Dylan Bates and Jimmy Hillard. But the elder Ketron (John), driving the Sagebrush Steakhouse in Kingsport/K & K Auto/No. 26 Honda, finally moved into the lead and went on to record his third victory. John led a Ketron family sweep of the top three finishing positions, with Jason and Billy coming home in second and third, respectively, with Chris Neeley and Bates rounding out the top five at the checkered flag.

Brad Ball passed Billy Duty for the lead on lap 3 of the Mod 4 feature and never looked back en route to capturing his first win of the season over Joshua Gobble, Rocky Yates, Duty and Dennis Arnold.

Bruce Crumbley looked like he was headed to his first-ever Rookie Pure 4 feature win, but Kingsport’s Billy Byington, driving the Toy Auto/Kenny Absher Racing/No. 11 Toyota Celica, got around Crumbley on the white flag lap to record his second win of the season. Finishing behind Byington and Crumbley were Chris Steadman, Brandon Sutherland and Mook Jeter.